This invention relates to telecommunication networks, and more particularly, to a system and method of determining end point candidates for an optical channel in a data network.
Traffic management is an important task for any data or communication network, especially high-speed networks. In particular, traffic congestion need to be detected and alleviated by identifying alternate routes and rerouting traffic. In optical networks such as metropolitan and access optical networks, congestion in a data channel may develop between two or more network elements or nodes. To alleviate the congestion, an express channel providing a secondary light path may be provisioned to reroute traffic. However, traffic analysis has shown that it may not be optimal to simply set up the alternate path between the two network nodes experiencing congestion. On the other hand, the amount of CPU resources and time required to analyze the traffic conditions and simulate possible express channel configurations and arrive at the optimal solution makes this process impracticable in a high-speed network.
It may be seen from the foregoing that it is desirable to perform some analysis of the traffic conditions in the network to provide a more focused list of candidates for the data channel end points so that an optimal solution can be calculated quickly without a heavy CPU burden.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method of determining end points for a data channel in a data network to off-load traffic from a target data link is provided. The method includes the steps of identifying ingress network nodes sourcing traffic through the target data link, and determining an average ingress bandwidth sourced by the ingress network nodes. Thereafter, the method includes the steps of identifying egress network nodes sinking traffic from the target data link, and determining an average egress bandwidth sunk by the egress network nodes. The data channel start point candidates are identified to include ingress network nodes sourcing more traffic than the average ingress bandwidth, and the data channel end point candidates are identified to include egress network nodes sinking more traffic than the average egress bandwidth.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a method of provisioning an optical channel in an optical network to off-load traffic from a target optical link is provided. The method includes the steps of identifying ingress network nodes sourcing traffic through the target optical link, determining an average ingress bandwidth sourced by the ingress network nodes, identifying egress network nodes sinking traffic from the target optical link, and determining an average egress bandwidth sunk by the egress network nodes. The method further includes identifying optical channel start point candidates to include ingress network nodes sourcing more traffic than the average ingress bandwidth, and identifying optical channel end point candidates to include egress network nodes sinking more traffic than the average egress bandwidth. Thereafter, an optimal optical channel is determined based on the start and end point candidates, and the optimal optical channel may be automatically provisioned upon user acceptance.
In accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention, an optical network includes a network element operable to determine end points for an optical channel in an optical network to off-load traffic from a target optical link. The network element is operable to identify ingress network nodes sourcing traffic through the target optical link, determine an average ingress bandwidth sourced by the ingress network nodes, identify egress network nodes sinking traffic from the target optical link, and determine an average egress bandwidth sunk by the egress network nodes. The network element is further operable to identify optical channel start point candidates to include ingress network nodes sourcing more traffic than the average ingress bandwidth, and identify optical channel end point candidates to include egress network nodes sinking more traffic than the average egress bandwidth.
A technical advantage of the present invention is that a short cut is provided for the provisioning of an optical channel or express channel to off-load congested traffic experienced by a network link. Instead of simulating express channel configurations using all possible start and end nodes, which is a time and CPU-intensive process, a shortened list of candidates are used. Thus, considerable CPU resources and time are saved.